As the new year begins, the NCAA remains steadfast in helping its member schools protect student-athletes from COVID-19. On this week's Social Series episode, Dr. Brian Hainline, the NCAA chief medical officer, discussed the current COVID-19 variants and considerations for protocols and practices to mitigate the spread of the virus.
Dr. Carlos del Rio, executive associate dean for Emory University School of Medicine at Grady Health System, and Dr. Cameron Wolfe, associate professor of medicine at Duke and associate of the Duke Initiative for Science & Society, joined Hainline on the episode.
Current state
The panel opened the episode delving into the current state of the pandemic, particularly the wave of infections from the omicron variant.
"We're currently in what I would say is one of the toughest waves of this pandemic in the sense that we are dealing with a very, very infectious agent," del Rio said. "I frankly don't recall ever confronting an infectious disease as contagious as this one. This virus is highly transmissible with a very short incubation period."
Despite the resurgence of the infections, del Rio expressed optimism in the demonstrated efficacy of vaccines, stating that despite high infection rates, health care professionals are seeing less severe cases of the disease for a variety of reasons.
"Number one, the virus doesn't infect the lower respiratory tract as much (as past variants), but number two, if you're vaccinated, while you may not be as protected against infection, you're still protected against severe disease and against death — especially those that are boosted," del Rio said.
'Fully vaccinated' defined
Hainline discussed the latest recommendation from the NCAA COVID-19 Medical Advisory Group — of which del Rio and Wolfe are members — that the NCAA change its definition of what it means for Tier 1 individuals to be fully vaccinated.
To be considered fully vaccinated, individuals must have completed the two-dose series of the Pfizer vaccine within the past five months; completed the two-dose series of the Moderna vaccine within the past six months; completed the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine within the past two months; or received a booster vaccine.
"Once you're outside of those windows and you never received your booster shot, you're no longer fully vaccinated for purposes of the considerations outlined in this document, and you must receive the booster to fall into that criterion," Hainline explained.
The updated criteria are reflected in theResocialization of Collegiate Sport: 2022 Winter Training and Competition for Tier 1 Individualsreleased this week. As the COVID-19 situation changes and federal guidance evolves, recommendations will be reviewed.
Mutual trust
The foundation that underlies the guidance from the NCAA is a sense of accountability by member schools to protect their student-athletes and athletics staff.
Further, Wolfe reiterated the importance mutual trust plays between teams because COVID-19 policies are followed by both the home and the away teams. He noted how effective this sense of accountability has been in competition.
"I think it's also incumbent upon each school to be clear as to what their (school) policy is, what their county policy is and make that visible to visiting teams to understand ahead of time what it's going to be like for them because there will be these little subtle differences everywhere," Wolfe said. "I think people have been good so far in actually offering up early visibility. To say, 'Hey, you're coming to play here in city X. This is the way this has been handled here.' That's worked well."